The Incident Begins (2)
"Hey, Seong. Is there anything you wanna do someday?"
"Don't act all buddy-buddy with me. And why are you asking that out of nowhere?"
Crack. Pop-pop. Hiss.
He tossed another armful of kindling onto the campfire that lit the dark forest inside the freezing dungeon, then tossed the question my way as casually as the wood.
"I dunno. Just feels pathetic watching a kid as young as you scrape by living like this."
"Don't treat me like a child. I'm a full-grown adult."
The way he talked down to me like I was some little kid — a guy I'd only just met. He was the one who'd softened, even a little, the conviction I'd carried that every human besides Yuna was garbage.
Thanks to some bastard troller, the dungeon boss had planted itself right by the entrance. We were stuck waiting for the thing to move on, splitting the rations we'd brought — or rather, he was the only one eating — and the silence between us felt awkward as hell.
"What about you, then? Got something you want? Some kind of goal?"
"Haaah. I told you not to call me 'you.' Call me hyung."
"I'm not calling some guy I'll never see again 'hyung.' So? Do you have one or not?"
"Hmm… Beats me. Winning the lottery and living easy sounds pretty good, doesn't it?"
I was years younger than him and spitting informal speech like I owned the place, and instead of getting mad he actually sat there and thought hard about a throwaway question. No matter how I looked at it, the guy was weird.
KRAAAAAAAAAAWWW—!!!
"Ugh!!"
"Tch!! Run!!"
A roar tore through the dungeon's dense forest like a storm ripping the canopy apart.
The dungeon boss's howl.
I'd been worried it might happen, and it finally had — the boss had found us hiding.
We'd been a good several dozen kilometers away, and we'd had a fire going for hours without a single sign it had noticed us. I'd let my guard down. And now the thing I'd feared most was happening.
BOOM. BOOM. CRASH. KRA-BOOOOM!!!
CRACK—!!
The dungeon's towering trees, which had stretched proudly toward the sky, snapped and toppled under the boss's charge as if their grandeur meant nothing. And the place they were falling was exactly where he and I were standing.
BOOM!!!! GROOOOOOAR!!!
We scrambled clear of the collapsing timber, and what greeted us was a monster whose bulk roughly resembled a wild boar — except instead of tusks, hundreds of razor teeth jutted past its jaws, and eyes covered even the places where ears should have been. Just looking at it flooded you with revulsion and raw terror. It stood as tall as a ten-story apartment building.
Cold sweat poured down my back, soaking my clothes.
It was over.
I had no mana left. I'd been holding out, hoping Five Colors would restore enough by morning so I could escape on the bare minimum. And now we'd been found.
Fuck. Is this where I die?
Was I never going to be able to watch over Yuna again?
The Yuna I loved — I wouldn't even get to look after her anymore?
I was right on the edge of denying reality and giving up on living when—
"Seong. You run. I'll hold this thing off."
"…You can't stop it alone."
He snorted.
"Appreciate the concern. And yeah, I know I can't stop it, but…"
He planted his feet.
"If someone's gonna live, it oughta be the young one, right? Go find something you actually want to do out there."
"You're the one who said you had something you wanted."
"That was a lie. Truth is, I came here to die. My only family — my little brother — died in this dungeon."
SHING!
Yellow mana coated his blade like a second skin. He settled into a stance, glanced back over his shoulder at me, and said:
"Thanks to you, I had fun. That blunt attitude of yours — it was just like looking at my little brother."
Haa… I needed to run. But whether I'd caught whatever disease this bastard had, or whether I was just another piece-of-shit human myself—
I dug through my pocket, pulled out the mana recovery potion I'd been saving for absolute last resort, and downed it. Then I walked up beside the guy striking his big heroic pose with every inch of his body.
Pop. Gulp-gulp.
"Don't decide how this ends on your own. And if you pull that crap, you think I can run away with a clear conscience?"
"Hah! Why don't you just go? Doesn't look like you've got much mana left anyway."
"Hey, Kim Cheol. Running won't change a damn thing either way. So let's try escaping together."
"You're still not gonna call me hyung?"
The moment I said his name — Kim Cheol — his eyes went wide. Then he asked again about the 'hyung' thing, and I answered with a grin of my own.
"Survive with me, and I'll try calling you hyung."
"Well then. Looks like I've got a reason to live after all."
Thud!!
Thump!!
Both of us left the ground at the same time, driving our feet into the rough dungeon soil and launching ourselves straight at the boss.
"Nngh… Why am I suddenly dreaming about all that old stuff…"
I'd had a dream. A dream I missed so much it hurt.
The memory of the day Kim Cheol hyung and I first met.
Being able to see him again, even in a dream, was a good thing — a precious thing. And the fact that Kim Cheol hyung no longer knew who I was made it a sad dream, too.
Rustle.
Freshly awake, Seong's hair stuck up in every direction like a bird's nest. He raked a hand through it roughly and started to sit up.
Squeeze.
"Hm? Ah… right. I came home."
As he tried to rise, Seong found a small, pale pair of arms wrapped tightly around him — and remembered that yesterday he'd left the academy dorms and come back to the house.
"Mmm… Daddy… hehe."
Hearing Hana talk in her sleep after so long was so welcome and so unbearably cute that the corners of Seong's mouth showed no intention of coming back down. He carefully tried to slip free without waking her, but—
"Mmh…? Ah. Hehe. Daddy."
—even the slightest touch from him was enough. Hana blinked her eyes open, looked up at Seong watching her, and broke into a brilliant smile.
"Sleep well? Nothing uncomfortable?"
"Uuung. Nothin' like that."
She pulled the half-escaped Seong back in with those little arms, nuzzling her face into him and answering in a muffled, pressed-flat voice that nothing had been wrong. Seong scooped her up, met her eyes, said he was glad to hear it, and carried her out of the room.
"Ah, Seong. Hana. You're up? Good morning."
Outside, Yuna was already awake and setting out breakfast. She greeted Seong and Hana with a bright, warm smile.
"Morning, Yuna."
"Mommy, good morning."
"Alright. Breakfast's almost ready, so just hang on a little."
Yuna looked every bit as content as he felt, soaking in a sight she hadn't seen in a full week.
If I mentioned that Hana sometimes comes to visit my dorm, would she get a little sulky?
Or maybe, after that first night with Beatrice, she already figured out Hana's been coming to the dorms.
"A fine morning to thee, my beloved."
Smack.
Beatrice slipped up behind him without a sound, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.
"Morning, Noona."
Smack.
He returned Beatrice's kiss in kind — only a little deeper — and she answered with a sweet smile and yet another kiss of her own.
"Food's ready~ Everyone come eat."
"Yes~~!"
"As thou wilt."
"Got it, Yuna."
And so, wrapped in that peaceful, happy stretch of time, he took a bite of Yuna's cooking for the first time in ages — food made with love and care.
His favorite taste in the world.
Not the academy's cooking, which only ever thought about flavor. This was warm. You could taste that it had been made for them.
How desperately he'd missed this taste for a whole week.
After the meal, Seong and Yuna got ready for the academy while Beatrice, her hands already far more practiced than a week ago, helped Hana prepare for kindergarten.
"Alright, Noona. We're heading out."
"Hana, be good at kindergarten, okay?"
"Indeed. Go well."
"Yes~! Mommy, Daddy, have a good day!"
Seong and Yuna accepted Hana's adorable little bow and set off for the academy.
"Yooo~! You guys made it?"
"You're here earlier than me? What's the occasion?"
When they walked into the classroom, Yoo Hwa-young — who usually showed up later than Seong — was already there waving at the two of them.
"Hmm~~ Beats me? My eyes just popped open weirdly early today. Oh! Right — hey! Can I come over to your place again today?"
"You think I'd say yes? And what about your Lucinus classes?"
Setting aside whether he wanted Hwa-young dropping by the house at all, as a Lucinus she had extra sessions with the academy professors after regular classes ended.
Given how strong those professors were, it was time anyone else would kill for. Hwa-young's answer to his question, though, was something else entirely.
"I can just skip, can't I~?"
"You know other people would cry blood out of sheer envy if they heard you say that, right?"
"Yeah, but hanging out at your place is way more fun~ Cute little Hana's there and everything. So? What's the answer?"
"Unfortunately for you, my answer hasn't changed. And don't say Hana's name with that mouth of yours."
"Ugh, come on. It's not like saying her name wears her out."
"When you say it, it jinxes her. So don't."
At Seong's talk of jinxes, Hwa-young shot up out of her seat and started yelling at him about what the hell that was supposed to mean.
Seong told her she was being loud and to shut up, then dropped into his seat. Yuna, who had been watching the two of them, let out a soft laugh, sat down beside Seong, and said:
"I don't know… it kind of looks like you two are getting along. It's nice."
"It's not like that."
"Hmph! Look who's talking. I'm the one who has zero interest in being friends with this guy!"
Both Seong and Hwa-young denied Yuna's observation — but Yuna knew better than anyone that if this had been a normal day, Seong's words would have been a lot rougher. Which meant she could tell the distance between the two of them had closed.
And Hwa-young, for her part, seemed just a little pleased that Seong had gotten even slightly kinder toward her.
"Alright, everyone take your seats. I'll begin roll call."
While Seong and Hwa-young were still trading barbs with their newly shortened distance, the door opened and Ryu Se-rin walked in to start attendance.
"Kim Si-hyeon."
"Yes, Professor."
"Good. Looks like everyone's here, so I'll wrap up roll call. I have one announcement for all of you."
Once attendance was finished, Ryu Se-rin delivered a single piece of news to the class — and the moment Seong heard it, his expression went cold and dark.
"Ah, and starting today, there will be sparring matches against the other classes. These spars are meant to encourage exchange and competition between classes. All of today's lectures have been replaced by the sparring sessions, so keep that in mind. That is all."
The academy's first incident.
The day it began was today.